Professional diversity and personal commitments of pediatric otolaryngologists

Objective: To characterize the time demands and practice patterns of pediatric otolaryngologists. Design: Prospective survey of members from the American Society of Pediatric Otolaryngology. Results: The survey response rate was 54% (n=136) of practicing members of the American Society of Pediatric Otolaryngology. Respondents described being actively engaged in clinical otolaryngology (99%), hospital or practice administration (71%), private enterprise (17%), research (71%), and teaching (89%) on a weekly basis. Sixty percent considered their time demands to be "too busy"; however, few anticipated changing their activities in 5 years. Among the responding physicians, 90% believed that nonotolaryngology peers within their institutions viewed pediatric otolaryngology favorably whereas only 50% thought that other otolaryngologists held the same opinion. Conclusions: Pediatric otolaryngologists participate in many activities beyond clinical medicine. While most considered their time demands to be too busy, few anticipated a change in their activities. This may be reflective of a high level of job satisfaction, financial constraints, or the relative youth of the subspecialty.